A Rawhide Story-A Friend for Mushy Part 1
by Katie Zakrzewski
Summary: When a cowgirl joins the drive, she befriends and takes up for the cook's louse


You could say I'd gotten lucky. Mr. Favor had found me on the side of the  
road  
alone. My family had died in a yellow fever outbreak, and I had taken my  
dad's  
gun and set out, trying to get as far away from home and those horrible  
memories  
as possible. He'd taken me in and was willing to give me a job,  
despite the fact  
I was a fourteen year old girl. I'd been on the drive for a  
few weeks, and I'd  
already developed a nickname of my own. The boys called me  
Cinnamon, because of  
the way I wretched when I'd tried a failed attempt at  
Wishbone's cinnamon pie.

I'd seen some action along the trail. I'd helped  
a few of the boys out of a few  
tough fixes with my brains, and a gun i had  
practiced with since my family died  
three years before.  
But most of all,  
my best friend on the drive, believe it or not, was Mushy.  
Call it fate, but  
our friendship was an accident. It was late one night, and  
after begging Mr.  
Favor for a chance at night shift, I went over to Wishbone,  
who was making a  
fresh batch of coffee.  
"Mushy!" Wishbone had shouted.  
"Yes Mr.  
Wishbone?"  
Mushy had caught my eye. I'd gotten to know Rowdy and Mr. Favor,  
and crotchety  
old Wishbone, but Mushy, well, I couldn't quite place him. He  
seemed like a  
sweet guy who didn't belong with these tough men.  
"Quit  
talking you fumble footed knuckle head, and get some more wood for  
the  
fire!"  
"Wishbone," I said. "take it easy."  
"This is none of your  
business!" he'd said, and I could tell the late night was  
taking a toll on  
the old "chef".  
"I just made it my business. Lay off."  
Wishbone grew  
quiet, and I saw Mushy smile. I smiled back. I grabbed a cup of  
coffee and  
sat down up against a tree away from the camp. I lightly sipped on  
it, and  
burnt my tongue, cursing.  
I was too busy to notice someone sat down beside  
me. Mushy. "Thanks back  
there." he said.  
"How do you put up with  
it?"  
"Don't forget,"he said. "I'm just the cook's assistant. If it weren't  
for him, I  
wouldn't have a job. That was brave what you did though. No one  
has ever done  
something like that for me before, and I've been on the drive  
for years. I guess  
I don't have too many friends around here."  
"You do  
now." I said with a smile, and got up to patrol the area.

A couple weeks  
later after stepping in town for a while, a man, a big fat cross  
eyed man,  
who claimed to know Mr. Favor wanted to start a fight with him. "Butt  
out," I  
said with a sneer. Mr. Favor pushed me behind him protectively. "You  
want  
some?" he asked.  
Despite Mr. Favor's attempts to shield me, I called out,  
"All you got plus  
some buttwipe! Bring it!"  
"Tonight," the man said, "I'll  
show ya!"  
Mr. Favor was bound and determined to keep me away from the town,  
and I'd  
managed to tell Mushy where I was headed.  
"He can't hit you!"  
Mushy whispered. "You're a girl!"  
"Someone needs to put him in his place," I  
said, tightening my guns around my  
hips, walking to my horse when I saw that  
Mr. Favor had fallen asleep. Mushy  
placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled  
softly. "Good luck."

I made it to town, and found the man in the middle  
of the street. "You ready to  
get flatten?" I was surprised he didn't say  
fattened.  
"Yeah you cross eyed ape!" I yelled. "You've got a pretty big  
challenge though,  
you cross eyed ape. You gotta pick which one of the two of  
me you see you're  
gonna hit!"  
But someone tripped me, and I saw this ugly  
fellow brought friends. He clunked  
me hard over the head. I winced, and I  
looked up to see a mighty club of a hand  
getting ready to smash my skull,  
when someone grabbed it and threw two punches.  
That was all it took. The two  
men crumpled to the ground and out of all people,  
Mushy helped me up.  
I  
smiled. "Thanks, but why'd you help me?"  
"I might not be the brightest man on  
the drive," he said with a smile, helping  
me brush off the dirt. "But even I  
know what friendship is. Now let's have  
Wishbone take a look at that head of  
yours."  
I smiled back, and we headed to camp.  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
A  
special thanks to all my family and friends and family! Thanks to all of  
my  
readers! Tell me what you think! Watch for Part 2 coming soon!


End file.
